Cr    „?80fl 
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#68 


Duke  University  Libraries 
The  Petition  of 
Conl  Pam  q#68 

DITOblDLlDT 


py  The   PnTino:r    of   Crrtain  Nok  Ch. 

AChlPTS.  RESPECTFULLY  PPESE^LD   TO  THE  UON- 
FEDERATE  STATES  CONORtSS. 

To  the  Speaker  and  Members  of  Congress  of  the  Con- 
federate State*  of  America: 

Your  petitioner*  rehpectfully  represent  tbat  they 
are  all  over  thy  age  of  thirty-five  years,  or  under 
the  age  of  eighteen  years.  They  were  all  "enrolled 
Id  the  military  service  of  the  Confederate  Mates" 

previous  to  the  lfi'h  day  of  April.  lro'J.  the  date  of 
the  Conscript  Act.  Some  of  your  petitioners  be- 
long  to  companies  mustered  aod  received  into  Her 
vice  for  twelve  months,  some  of  whom  re  enlisted 
for  the  war  previous  to  the  16th  day  of  April, 
and  others  who  have  not  re  enlisted ;  Home  who 
have  received  the  bounty  nmDpy,  aud  others  who 
have  not  received  it.  Most  of  ymir  petitioners  had, 
under  the  call  of  their  respective  Slates  and  the 
President  of  the  Confederal  I  States,  enlisted  for 
"three  years  or  Ihe  war,"  previous  to  the  10th  of 
April.  1662. 

Your  petitioners  are  from  the  different  States  of 
the  Confederacy— some  of  them  over  fifty  yeurs 
old,  others  mutST  seventeen  years  of  age.  At  the 
different  period* of  their  enlistment  tb>'  prof 
of  the  army  of  the  Coufedei  a«y  were  darkened  and 
being  ovoisbaduv.e  i  by  »  ■enOfl  of  mishaps,  blun- 
ders, and  military  lui-'.advmtures.  'ihe  cause  so 
dear  to  every  true  and  brave  Southron  was,  to  all 
ontward  appearance*,  waning,  aud  needed  renewed 
energies  and  unmistakable  popular  niauilestatious 
of  personal  braveiy  and  individual  sacrifices 

1  he  call  lorfr-sh  troops,  increased  energies,  and 
redoi"  dj,  was  promptly  respond 

by  your  petitioners,  as  voluo  een  in  the  army  of 
the  t  •  tates.     At  that  eritloal jnnotnre 

of  the  affair*  of  the  country,  neither  your  petition- 
era  ncr  the  public  had  any  idea  of  tb<  nasi 
the  Conscript  Act.  It  was  then  b'dioved  that  it  w  as 
the  settled  policy  of  the  Qonfedorate  Oovernmeul 
to  rerft  its  in  naming  reliance  on  the  untrami 
free  will  and  high  Spirit  «>f  the  Southern  people  to 
be  called  forth,  organized,  and  put  inte  action  un 
der  their  respective  State  otgauizations.  Your 
petitioners  could  uot  have   anticipated  the  passage 

of  theCcuscript  Act,  or  the  adoption  and aai 
of  any  system  of  military  .  by  iheOon- 

federate  States  Government,  which  would  els 
rest  at  a  baatl  on    the  abnegation  of  11. 
principle  ftf  aiajaaoafl&i'tfnty  a*iu  ind 

doiu  of   will.      'fl"*y,  n  - 

the  cardinal  pi  lucfel 

ty  and  nnquesl  loned  St  Lgnty  as  the  key- 

i,  '    litlng  n  ( olutlon.  — 

f  no  ordinary  character,  your 
petitioners,  in  the  hour  of  their  country's  danger, 
left  home,  family,  all,  to  Jig  hi  an  freemen   in  the  ar- 
my of  freemen.     To    i  icred  their  birth- 
right— Individual,  personal  liberty,  under  their  re- 
spective 6ta'e  Govern  were,   and  are 
now,  prppared    to    sacrifice   everything  but  their 
honor  and  menhood.     They   boHered,  as   they  had 
«vi .  y  right  to  bi  lieve,  that  the  agieed  Molui  of  the  [ 
army  wonld   remain  on  the  basis  which  bad   been 
adopted  and  sanctioned  by  the  responsive  I  . 
tiou  of  the  <              rate  Government.     Had  the 
eertained  policy  and  accredited  system  ol  military  i 
organization   been   sustained  and   carried   out,  not  \ 
one  of  your  petitioners  wonld  have  complained. 

Under  the  conviction  that  no  such  change  would 
or  could  be  made,  youx  petitioner!  volant 
freely  and  re-enlutted  willingly.  They  thu*  enter 
ed  into  a  contract  with  the  Confederate  States, 
which  they  had  DO  right  to  suspect  wonld  ever  be 
violated  by  that  biglVeontraeting  party.  In  this 
Ihey   were"  it.     On    the    16th   day   of 

April,  L8S9,  pi  Act  became  a  law.     The 

will  of  your  honora'I*?  body,  as  made  known  in 
tbat  law,  by  tanna  too  plain  to  be  mistaken,  and 
loo  imperious  to  be  lightly  disregarded,  annulled 
all  pruTtonj  ooatraota  madt  by  rolunti  ere;  and  by 
explicit  terms  of  eocreire  legislation,  made  men 
under  the  age  of  3.">  years  and  over  is  years,  sold- 
lira  for  the  war,  or  until  they  attained  the  age  of  35 
years — thus  drawing,  tut  with  "hooks  of  | 
every  male  otttaaa  witbln  the  prescribed  ages  (with 
a  few  excepted  cases)  immediately  and  entirely 
from  the  control  of  State  action,  :«nd  placed  them 
at  the  disposal  of  the  President  during  the  war. 

This  law,  had  it  been  unqualified  and  unaccom- 
panied by  a  reciprocating-  return  to  the  body  of  so- 
ciety, and  under  the  control  of  the  different  States, 
(that  claas  then  in  the  army,  represented  by  your 
petitioners,)  could  never  have  been  sanctioned  by 
the  States.  As  a  bonus  to  society,  and  a  concur- 
rent guarantee  to  the  States,  your  honorable  body 
Inserted  certain  qualifications,  restrictions,  and  con- 
ditions precedent  to  the  main  body  of  the  act. — 
They  were  in  the  following  words : 

"Provided,  JurtArr,  That  all  persons  under  the 
age  of  18  years  or  over  the  age  of  :(."»  years,  who  are 
Dow  enrolled  in  the  military  service  of  the  Confed 
•rate  State*,  in    the   r*g InenU,   iquadronH,   battal- 


ions, and  corr.pnnies  hereafter  to  be  re  organised- 
shall  be  required  to  remain  in  their  respective  com, 
panies,  squadrons,  battalions,  and  regiments  for 
ninety  days,  unless  their  places  shall  be  sooner  sup- 
plied by  other  recruits,  not  now  in  the  service,  who 
are  between  the  ages  of  IS  and  35  years.  And  all 
laws  and  parts  of  laws  providing  for  the  reorgan- 
ization of  volunteers,  and  the  organization  thereof, 
into  companies,  squadrons,  battalions,  and  regi- 
ments, Khali  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby,  re: 

On  the  promulgation  of  the  law,  with  this  qualific- 
ation, (without  which  your  petitioners  aver  the  law 
could  never  hnve  been  passed,)  there  was  but 
one  construction  placed  on  it  in  the  army  and 
throughout  the  country,  so  far  as  your  petitioners 
are  advised  and  believe ;  and  that  was,  that  all  per- 
sons over  the  age  of  35  years  or  under  IB  years, 
who  were,  on  the  date  of  the  law,  "enrolled  in  the 
military  service  of  the  Confederate  States/'  shovld 
br  discharged  on  the  Hit  A  day  of  July,  IHiJ  |  and 
this  without  restriction,  qualification  or  p^radvon- 
ture.  These  were  the  terms  of  the  law.  They  were 
plain, unequivocal  and  mandatory.  Common  sense — 
universal  public  opinion,  concurring  military,  pop- 
ular aud  official  sentiment,  thus  understood,  ac- 
id  adopted  the  law.  Nor  was  it  anywhere, 
by  any  one,  or  under  any  circumstances,  otherwise 
:  considered  or  regarded,  so  far  as  your 
petitionee™  are  advised,  in  or  out  of  the  army,  until 
General  Order  No.  46",  rescinding  General  Onier  No. 
14,  was  issued  by  the  Adjutant  General,  under  aud 
by  authority  of  the  Secretary  at  War. 
That  order  took  the  country  and  the  army  by 

It  fell  as  a  death  knell  upon  the  assured 
expectations  of  your  petitioner*,  it  struck  the 
popular  ear  with  no  loss  astouishment.  It  disclosed 
a  new,  secret,  and  dangerous  spring  of  Executive 
ami  ministerial  power,  as  unlooked  for  as  it  was 
novel  and  perilous  to  the  spirit  and  genius  of  the 
revolution  inaugurated  on  the  declared  principle  of 
eternal  opposition  aud  unyielding  resist  ar' 
ecutive  or  quant  legislative  encroachments  on  the 
chartered  rights  and  constitutional  privileges  of 
the  people.  It  manifested  a  will  to  assume  power 
where  none  was  bestowed,  or  intended  to  be  be- 
lt iwed,  and  to  exercise  high  retroactlug  and  an- 
nulling prerogatives  where  all  exercise  of  Execu- 
tive will  or  ministerial  discretion  was  ] 
and  distinctly  inhibited.  It  presented  a  painful 
luntAnce  of  a  plain,  palpable  and  dangerous  infrac 

■  constitutional    guaranties    and    vested 

*  *  -r*'«  ^  ••?   Vr>irr  >*»*...—,  — .     J     Tj  Jr..,t  Vy  jianr  Wi- 

orablu  body,  aud  uumistakably  announced  in  the 
'i  Act. 
Your  petitioners,  feeling  that  this  interpolating 
order  of  the  Adjutant-General  was  a  clear,  palpa- 
ble, and  unauthorized  (by  the  Law)  infraction  of 
their  rights,  consulted  counsel,  and  procured  his 
■  pinion,  which  was  published,  and  will 
be  laid  before  your  honorable  body.  In  thnfl 
seeking  counsel,  your  petitioners  were  not  actuated 
by  any  other  spirit  than  that  of  a  dhfpOsittOD  to 
■aoartaln  their  legal  rights,  as  df  lined  and  enumer- 
ated by  your  honorable  body.  They  had  volun- 
teered without  the  least  idea  of  the  passage  of  any 
such  law.  Tbat  law,  without  th*ir  solicitation,  not 
only  revoked  and  annulled  the  act  of  their  volun- 
teering, but,  in  distinct  terms,  released  them  troni 
tU  military  service  alter  the  I'lth  day  ot  July,  1BG2, 
as  a  consideration  to  society  and  the  different  State* 
tor  the  unconditional,  peremptory,  and  mandatory 
draft)  which  the  same  law  made  indiscriminately 
on  the  community.  It  in  express  terras  released  all 
over  35  years  or  under  18  years,  that  if  might  i-inim, 
dema.fi,  and  impress  all  between  tbone  ages.  It 
discarded  those  over  35  years  of  age,  that  it  might 
COERCE  those  under  that  age. 

This  was  a  severe  tax  on  the  community  at  large, 
and  not  less  severe  on  your  petitioners  as  a  class. 
It  took  the  manhood  and  youth  of  the  country, 
with  or  without  their  consent;  but  it  undertook 
#\ud  guaranteed  that  all  over  35  years  or  under  18 
years  should  bo  discharged.  This  was.  in  tern.*,  a 
solemn  legislative  compact  with  the  States  and  so- 
ciety. As  such,  severe  aod  harsh  as  it  was,  it  was 
ratified  by  acquiescence,  and  no  settled  opposition 
was  made. 

You  petitioners  even  now  would  greatly  prefer 
that  matters  should  have  remained  as  they  were. 
But  they  were  disposed  of  by  the  law,  and  respect- 
fully insist  that  what  the  law  did  the  Secretary  M 
War  cannot  undo.  The  compact  made  by  your 
honorable  body,  If  good  In  one.  part,  must  stand 
unaltered  In  every  part.  The  clause  releasing, your 
petitioners  was  In  a  proviso,  and  was  and  is  para- 
mount to  the  enactments  in  the  main  body  of  the 
act.  It  was  the  codicil  to  the  legislative  will,  and 
was  superior  in  its  active  powers  to  any  and  all 
parts  of  the  act  which  might  happen  to  conflict 
with  It.  If  the  retroactive  Interpolation  entered 
by  authority  of  the  Secretary  at  War  repeated  that 
proviso,  according  to  all  law.  and  every  rule  of 
seond  construction  the  same  repoalingorder  would 
anool  and  destroy  the  main  body  of  the  act    On 


this  subject  yonr  petitioners  are  advised  the  an 
t Untitles  are  most  satisfactory. 

But  the  Secretary  at  War  has  repealed  the  pro- 
viso, recalled  the  warrant  of  dihcharge,  and  placed 
his  own  construetion  on  the  whole  law,  and  direct- 
ed that  your  petitioners  should  not  be  discharged — 
the  twelve-months'  men — until  the  expiration  of 
ninety  days  aft*-r  their  term  of  service,  and  claims 
to  retain  all  persons  enlisted  for  the  war  previous 
to  the  Kith  of  April,  1HIS2,  for  the  war. 

Your  petitioners  are  advised  that  the  rights, 
privileges,  and  immunities  rafted  in  them  by  virtus 
of  the  proviso  to  the  said  act,  are  full  and  complete, 
attended  by  no  conditions  aud  restrained  by  no  quali- 
fications, and  that  those  rights  admit  of  no  interme- 
diate and  counteracting  restrictions,  either  from 
the  Executive  or  ministerial  Department  of  the 
Government.  They  aver,  most  respectfully,  that 
any  interpolating  or  retroactive  orders,  whether  by 
the  Chief  Magistrate,  or  aiiy  one  or  more  of  his 
subordinate  functionaries,  is  in  law  (however  they 
may  temporarily  act  on  your  petitioner?)  unavail- 
ing, null  and  void.  But  they  are  advised  that,  as 
there  is  In  operation  no  judicial  process  by  which 
they  could  lest  this  matter  as  a  class,  tbeir  only  le- 
gitimate means  of  redress  is  through  your  honora- 
ble body. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  all  laws  passed  by 
Congress  are  supreme,  and  challenge  the  obedient  ac- 
net  of  the  President  and  every  Department 
of  ihe,Oovornment,  until  they  are  repealed  or  pro- 
nounced unconstitutional  by  a  competeut  judicial 
tribunal.  And  any  violation  .  i  ;  g  >>ue  or  inore  of 
such  laws  by  any  Department  of  the  Government) 
hi  Dot  lass  >r  violation  by  any 

iety. 

The  reason,  spirit,  and  intention  of  the  la^v  Jo 
ion,   as  well  as  its  WOTdS,  eon'  *xt,  i  id  subject 

.  are    plain  and   d  imlstakahls,    There  it*  uo 
ird,  no  object,  no  purpose,  which  is  not 
fairly  and  plainly  Bet  forth.  The  question  tbeu  pre- 
sents itself,  paiuful,  serious   and  Vital,  shall  tlu    law 
prevail,  or  hi  unauthorized  In- 

terpolation of  th>  Secretary  at  War  prevail  t  Shall 
an  army  or<i  solemn  act  of  Cougressf— 

Shall  Congress  or    i  rule    (be    people, 

OOntrol  the   army,  and  legislate   tor  the  conn    \  1 — 
Have  we  a  constitutional  Government,  with  spe- 
citie  powers  grant*  d,  beyond  which  no  de^artmetd 
iment  shall  pass,  or  have  we  an  unlim- 
Qbvemment,  •  only  on  Bxeoatbre 

■    )  >    I'cnnU   fr**  or 
w  trie  F 

The-  lona     Thftyare  lolenuirv 

iided,  aud  i  lerit  a  r  .1  -irui  renponse.  It  rn 
l  and  Executive  usurp* 
i  which  destroyed  the  Union,  never  to  be  re- 
stored Shall  the  Southern  States,  confederated, 
yield  the  same  d-stroying  element  of  self  destruc- 
tion? The  answer  which  your  honorable  body  may 
n  ■  tit  to  give  will  descend  with  its  weighty  conse- 
quences  to  posterity.  The  voice  of  history  is  not 
less  potent  in  its  warnings  against  Executive  as- 
■umption  or  Ministerial  abuse  of  power  than  the 
hopes  of  the  future  are  dependent  on  your  response. 

In  view  of  the  dangers  which  beset  the  country, 
your  petitioners  cannot  batter  conclude  their  ap- 
peal than  by  adopting  the  significant  language  ut- 
tered bv  Patrick  Henry,  In  the  Virginia  Conven- 
tion, on  the  7th  January,  17BH.  wh  -n  he  exclaimed: 
"The  real  rock  of  political  salvation  is  self-love  — 
perpetuated  from  ago  to  age— in  every  human, 
breast,  and  manifested  in  every  human  action. — 
When  the  commons  of  England,  In  the  manly  lan- 
guage which  became  freemen,  said  to  their  king, 
Yot  a  kk  OUR  servant, — then  was  the  temple 
of  Liberty  oomplete.l< 

It  is  with  no  view  of  avoiding  danger,  or  shun- 
ning re^r  .iii-ibiiitiefl,  that  your  petitioners  ask  their 
.dischar^.-".  Their  hearts,  hopes,  energies,  are  all 
enlisted  in  this  war.  They  hud  rather  lose  all  and 
perish  themselves,  than  fail  to  maintain  the  cardi- 
nal principle  on  which  this  war  tarns.  They  will 
never  yield  to  an  insolent  foreign  foe,  or  succumb 
to  any  power  which  seeks  to  subvert  the  inherent 
rights  of  the  States  or  to  dentroy  the  individual 
liberty  of  the  free-birn  citiren.  Feeling  that  in 
this  order  of  revocation,  (General  Order,  No.  46,) 
not  only  their  rlghts.butthe  rights  of  the  people, and 
the  legitimate  powers  and  functions  of  Congress, 
are  invaded  and  endangered,  they  seek  the  pro- 
per remedy  ;  should  their  services  be  needed,  they, 
and  all  they  have,  will  he  freely  offered  up  on  the 
altar  of  constit  ntional  liberty.  But  they  are  not  pre- 
pared to  yield  a  silent  submission  to  the  violation  of 
their  rights  or  the  subversion  of  the  vested  immu- 
nities, when  their  title  papefs  are  derived  from  your 
honorable  body. 

Your  patlttrmers  respectfully  ask,  that  they  may 
be  fully  heard  before  your  honorable  bodv,  through 
their  counsel.  TBR  PETITIONERS, 

By  'heir  Counsel,  Jouk  H.  Otusaa. 

Richmond.  Aug  Hth.  iNti3.  • 


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peonultfe. 
PH8.5 


